Trouble logging in?If you can't remember your password or are having trouble logging in, you will have to reset your password. If you have trouble resetting your password (for example, if you lost access to the original email address), please do not start posting with a new account, as this is against the forum rules. If you create a temporary account, please contact us right away via Forum Support, and send us any information you can about your original account, such as the account name and any email address that may have been associated with it.

Lawrence dug himself the hole he finds himself in by overextending himself. He has only himself to blame and he'd be in a much worse situation or dead if Horo hadn't bailed him out on several occasions. Even the loan wouldn't have saved him since that only increases the mountain of debt and he still needs to find a way to dump the armor.

Once he realizes this I think there will be a reconcilliation. Let's see if Lawrence learns from this and stops putting himself in situations where he is in way over his head. It's about time he takes his own advice that he gave to Chloe...

P.S. I think Horo and Nora will make a great team. Let's see what they can hatch up in episode 11!

By the way, it's not unusual to sell your debt. In this case, since the Latopeiron Company was on the verge of bankcruptcy, it had no choice but to sell its debt to Remerio to settle the open transaction. The process is very similar to factoring, except that it doesn't seem that the debt was sold at a discount (perhaps it was, but we aren't told).

According to the Wiki entry, factoring has been around since the 1400s, so it was not unknown during the Middle Ages. As for modern times, the whole reason why the US is facing a possible recession this year is because many people had gone crazy when it came to debt-trading (sub-prime housing mortgages, in this case). So, yeah, it's not an old phenomenom, and it seems that we still haven't learnt the lesson till today.

Horo mentioned, in this episode, how she was uncomfortable with credit trading. I suppose that was a foreshadowing of things to come. Certainly, if Lawrence had not bought the armour on credit, he wouldn't be in as big of a hole as he is in, right now. But, I wonder if Horo's quote reflects the author's sensibilities -- East Asians in general are uncomfortable with debt, but Westerners have always stressed how debt is cheaper than equity, and use leverage as a way for achieving high-ratio growth.

Ah well, it doesn't matter -- this is not related to Spice and Wolf anyway.

I'm not so sure, sounds like most of that would fit comfortably right into the script for a Spice and Wolf episode!

Lawrence has good instincts and decent skills but he is WAY too reckless if you ask me. He got himself in trouble by going too far and making an enemy out of the merchant. If you play your cards right you can make a decent profit AND give your former adversary a chance to save face. Here was one way he could have handled this:

(1) Ask for armor as collateral. If Lawrence can't find a buyer he can return the armor and get ~1200 silver pieces back.
(2) Sell him an option - the right to all profits from the deal (after expenses) for 250 silver. The option is only good if Lawrence makes a profit.
(3) Negotiate insurance - Lawrence pays 50 for insurance. If Lawrence is robbed he can still get the 1200 silver pieces with a deductable of 100 silver pieces; i.e. Lawrence gets 1100 back. The option is negated in this case.

So here is what happens in each case:

A. Lawrence gets robbed - Lawrence gets 1050 while the merchant loses the money and the armor.
B. Lawrence cannot sell the armor for a profit - Lawrence gets 1200 back while the merchant gets the armor back.
C. Lawrence sells the armor for a profit - Lawrence gets 1200 plus the 250 for the option minus 50 for the insurance (1400 total). The merchant gets the entire share of the profits.

So even under a terrible scenario Lawrence lives to fight another day, while if he can sell the armor for profit he gets 1400. Even better if he makes a killing, since that allows his former adversary to make a tidy profit as well - a perfect win-win situation in which he would make an ally out of an adversary.

What are you talking about? There is no free lunch. The first two options are nothing less than robbery. Or blackmail, I suppose, which is what he was doing in the first place. If you're going to think like that, you might as well say he should have skipped the formalities and demanded payment for his silence in cold hard cash.

What he did was much closer to letting the merchant keep face and not have excessive losses. Indeed, if all had gone according to plan, they'd both have made a profit. Though of course, the other merchant's share would have been much smaller than normal.

As for option C, it wouldn't have saved Lawrence against what really happened: a collapse of the market. Sure, you could say he could have payed for insurance against that... But that would normally have shrunk the profits. As I said, no free lunch.

Then again, if he'd asked for insurance, what would truly have happened is that he'd have found out about the drop in price then, before it was too late.

Later Edit:
in one epsiode we get what is basically Lawrence proclaiming his love for her, a wonderful series of vignettes of them chatting, holding hands, her concern so obvious that it hurts.. .and then his desperate lash out that *really* tore the heartstrings.

I finally *get* what that last merchant was on about --- he had turned into a snooty "better than thou" Church-goer and basically turned Lawrence down because he had the temerity to obviously be in the company of a woman that was not his wife. O the horror.... but not unusual attitude for people of that time.

Poor Horo had no idea that such a thing was a problem (recalling her "so what, then say we're lovers" remark earlier).

A simply amazing amount of material for one episode though once again I'm quite certain 2 or 3 episodes of dialog were "lost in adaptation".

Any episode that has me giddy in the first part and my heart hurts in the second part probably executed its task well.

I admit to being completely baffled as to how either Horo or him can pull out of this nosedive.

Indeed, I am curious as well! I completely agree with Vexx on the episode's execution, very well done.

Concerning the fact only 2 episodes remain, I'd wager there will be a second season, at least an opening in episode 12 allowing for one. Nora has just been introduced, and with those 2 episodes left will probably not have much of an appearance.

Ok, you guys are scaring me. I thought there was still three episodes left because seven was skipped so the 13 episode season became a 12 with an extra on dvd. Episode Ten is still ten though so we have 11, 12 and 13 left right?

Please tell me I'm not mistaken here, the series ending in two weeks would feel a little more rushed to me. Everything getting solved and finished in two episodes?

__________________

I was influenced by a certain group overflowing with madness and started trying to write a story. Please give it a try. Crashed into Fantasy

After all, they are all but married at this point. Heck, Lawrence has introduced Horo as his wife on a number of occasions.

...I seriously doubt it. At the risk of sounding impolite, I'll just say don't get your hopes up. I can't believe I need to remind you of this, but Horo isn't human; she only resembles one. And that's if you don't take into account her tail and ears.

Dude, he sold the guy his entire load of pepper that he paid 1000 silver pieces for.

Dang right he should expect some kind of payment for that. How is that "free"?

P.S. The idea is to do ALL THREE things as part of the same transaction. This ain't multiple choice.

Your "solution" is a guaranteed profit of at least 50 silver. That means a free 50 silver coins.

That's a basic economic principle. No free lunch. No risk, no profit. About the only thing Lawrence could do for a low risk activity is cart goods that aren't his. (They're either already sold, or he's just carrying them between two warehouses of the same company).

The problems with that are:
- the merchant would have had no use for such a service, since the armor was worthless anyway.
- as a competent merchant, Lawrence should be able to make much more money than a simple cart driver, so it'd be a waste of his time.

The real question is: how was Lawrence caught unaware? The cancellation of the expedition should have been as big an event as the Pope canceling the new year ceremonies. Lawrence should have heard of it as he came closer to the holy city. Plot hole to make the story advance?

I sincerely doubt the Church will be interested in marrying a man to a manifestation of a pagan nature spirit -- no matter how cute she is.

You're right though... they're all but married in consummation (ignores lots of doujinshi) as far as sane people not under the thumb of the Church are concerned. This is one instance where rural "unsophisticated" peoples would be more open to common-law arrangements than "urban right-thinking" folk.

I have speculation how the series will end... but it may be unsatisfactory to some.

@Anh: I don't *think* it was a plot hole... I think he was out of the "chatter" loop because he took the empty road that only Nora was on. Therefore, he missed out on gossip that may have been traveling the other roads.

However, I haven't started the second volume of the novel to decide if from a purely anime standpoint it maintains self-consistency. The anime itself doesn't really even mention the reason for armor being wanted or why it suddenly plummeted in value.

He should have been aware of it even before buying the armor. He was already in a Church dominated land, remember? The expedition wasn't just a local thing. It was major, and as such its cancellation should have been gossiped about far and wide. Especially in a pious town like the one he bought the armor in.

Good point..... hmmm, I wonder if that is explained better in the novel or if the chronology is different. I'm holding off trying to read the second novel til after the series. It does appear to be, if not a plothole, a major faux pas... (wolf paws?) on Lawrence's part to have missed it (or that the cancellation was being kept quiet though I can't see how since many infantry would be involved to support a knightly assault).

It's even worse than just the infantry. It's all those mercenaries turned bandits when the contracts didn't come through. Everyone talked about the bandits, who'd become a big problem, but nobody talked about the cause?

It's mentioned in the book 2 that not even the people living in Rubinhaigen know about the cancellation of the expedition until it is announced, at which the armor prices must have plunged immediately. Remerio Company is also one of the victims of this fall in prices, for they have invested a large sum of money in armor as well. And they didn't knew about the cancellation despite being a merchant living in Rubinhaigen. So there's no way Lawrence could have known about it in advance.

The merchant of Latopeiron in Poloson, however knew about it in advance, which was why he agree to Lawrence's purchase of armor (happily).